Design framework for badge proximity discovery system

Abstract

A computer-implemented method that requires an inventive special-purpose software apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus comprises software subsystems that facilitate discovery of people wearing badges because they are service providers in a specific vicinity and want to be found easily by consumers employing their services so that the consumers may submit gratuities easily, quickly, and electronically to them.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A networked and distributed system comprising badges with unique identifying information, mobile applications, and a server subsystem which together execute a computer implemented method across these distributed subsystems, the computer-implemented system comprising:
 server subsystem;   obtaining nearby IDs into a running mobile phone application;   display that lists all available and nearby ID associations including identifying information such as ID, name, and photo;   list in mobile phone application for selecting one of the listed ID associations found.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the selected Service Provider has their profile information retrieved from the server subsystem and displayed on the mobile application. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the selected Service Provider is paid a gratuity. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising badges which emit the unique identifying information wirelessly. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising badges which emit the unique identifying information and GPS coordinate information wirelessly. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising badges which have a QR code which represents the unique identifying information and is received into the mobile app when scanned via the phone's camera. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising displaying all available nearby service providers who are also authenticated with the server subsystem. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising virtual badges which are represented by the service provider checking-in to their place of service using the mobile app. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising authenticating all mobile phone application received service provider ids with the server subsystem. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising visual indicator next to each Service Provider to know which badge type a Service Provider is using. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising means for consumer to create a list of favorite Service Providers. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising means for Service Provider to create a list of favorite consumers. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising means to submit a search using one or more criteria. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13  further comprising means to submit a search using keywords. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13  further comprising means to submit a search using a selected service entity. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 13  further comprising means to submit a search using favorites only. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 13  further comprising means for a Service Provider to select a privacy option to avoid showing up in search results. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 12  further comprising means for the consumer searching on Service Providers with privacy option set still show up in searches when the Service Provider has the consumer performing the search in their favorites list. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising means for a consumer to send a message to a Service Provider. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19  further comprising means for a Service Provider to:
 send a message to a consumer; 
 send a message reply to a consumer. 
 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 19  further comprising means for a consumer to send a group message to all Service Providers of the same service entity. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising means to manage its own proprietary currency. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising means to manage the Server Provider ID as an Object ID. 
     
     
         24 . A method comprising:
 receiving nearby unique identifying information IDs from badges to a running mobile phone application;   displaying in a list, all nearby badge ID associations including their identifying information such as ID, name, and photo;   selecting in the mobile phone application one of the listed ID associations found.